April 15, 1922] 



NATURE 



497 



Prof. Lowry then showed " A New Elutriator for 

 Rapid Use," especially adapted for use in factories. 

 The gravimetric determination of the residue of coarse 

 particles is here replaced by a simple measurement of 

 the height of the column of grit in a narrow tube, and 

 tests can tlierefore be made even where the ordinary 

 facilities of a chemical laboratory are not available. 

 I.ieut.-Col. J. V. Ramsden, of Shropshire Mines Ltd., 

 stated (at the previous meeting) that with the help 

 of this instrument he had been able, whilst using the 

 same grinding plant, to reduce the residue in ground 

 barytes from 6 per cent, to 0-5 per cent. Prof. Lowry 

 added tliat since this instrument was introduced two 

 years ago the relative merits of British and imported 

 samples of ground barytes had been reversed com- 

 pletely, with the result that the finest products that 

 he had tested recently were of British manufacture. 



Mr. W. J. Palmer referred to the practical im- 

 portance of fine grinding in the paint industry, both 

 in the preparation of enamels and as a means of 

 preventing the hard setting of paint in cans which 

 were sent abroad or stored for some years before 

 being used. Mr. Noel Heaton contradicted the gen- 

 eral impression that the ball-mill tends to produce 

 round particles, since when the glass was ground in 

 this way, even to 0-003 or 0-004 mm. diameter, the 

 particles when examined by the microscope had the 

 normal appearance of broken glass and were not in 

 the least degree rounded. 



Dr. R. Lessing mentioned some apphcations of 



elutriation in connection with the fire-brick, coal and 

 metallurgical industries. Its application to metal- 

 lurgy was described by Mr. Holman in connection 

 with tin slimes, where a loss of 10 to 15 per cent, was 

 traced to the carrying away of very fine particles in 

 a current of water. 



Mr. Tate, of the Government Laboratory, referred 

 to elutriation as a process of analysis in the separa- 

 tion of cocoa from husk in the ground product ; a 

 paper on this aspect of the subject was also submitted 

 by Mr. R. Whymper of Messrs. Peek, Frean & Com- 

 pany. 



Mr. B. A. Keen, of Rothamsted, criticised tlie 

 method of elutriation as applied to the mechanical 

 analysis of soils, largely on the ground that the shape 

 of the particle was as important as the size in 

 determining the velocity of water required to lift it. 

 In dealing with very fine particles the simpler pro- 

 cess of sedimentation was to be preferred. 



Prof. Porter, the President of the Faraday Society, 

 in closing the discussion, referred to centrifuging as 

 a means of grading line powders, and commented on 

 the relationship which Prof. Lowry had put forward 

 between velocity and grain-size. He also referred to 

 the utility of the discussion and especially to the 

 value of bringing together workers from different 

 fields, who could present information which, although 

 well known to one section of individuals, might not 

 be known at all to other groups represented at the 

 meeting. 



The International Petroleum Commission. 



A T the ninth annual General Meeting of the 

 -^^ Institution of Petroleum Technologists, held 

 on March 14, Prof. J. S. S. Brame delivered his 

 presidential address, taking for his subject the 

 proposals for the re-establishment of the International 

 Petroleum Commission. International Petroleum 

 Congresses were held in 1900, 1904, and 1908, and 

 committees were appointed to establish methods of 

 testing products. Little was actually achieved, and 

 in 1909 an International Petroleum Commission of 

 wider scope was established. The organisation of an 

 English National Section was referred to the Institu- 

 tion of Petroleum Technologists by Engler and 

 Ubbelohde, but the intended meeting of the Com- 

 mission at Bucharest in 1914 was prevented by the 

 outbreak of war. 



At the first annual meeting of the Petroleum 

 Products section of the Societe de Chimie Industrielle 

 at Paris in 1921, ]M. Schmitz suggested the re- 

 constitution and endowment of this Commission to 

 be centred at the University of Strasburg. He spoke 

 somewhat bitterly of the Americans " profiting by 

 the general disorganisation to seek to abandon the 



analytical methods previously decided upon, in 

 favour of their own." 



Prof. Brame expressed grave doubts as to the 

 wisdom and the justice of M. Schmitz's address. 

 He could not believe that the largest oil-producing 

 country, which had created such splendid organisa- 

 tions as the Bureau of Mines and the American 

 Society for Testing Materials, was likely to depart 

 from the methods of oil analysis it had elaborated 

 and adopted. He outlined the development of these 

 Institutions and the standard methods of petroleum 

 testing they had recommended, and spoke of the 

 cordial relationship between the Standardisation 

 Committee of the Institution of Petroleum Technolo- 

 gists and these American organisations, from which 

 collaboration he hoped would result an agreed 

 system of nomenclature and specifications of the 

 greatest mutual advantage. Such agreement he 

 considered of much greater value to the tw^o countries 

 having by far the largest interests in petroleum than 

 could be gained by the reinstitution of an Inter- 

 national Petroleum Commission. 



Facilities for Foreign Students in 



T^HE Bureau of Education of the Government of 

 -*• the United States have issued under the above 

 title, as Bulletin No. 39 of 1920, a revised and enlarged 

 edition of a valuable handbook by Dr. S. P. Capen 

 first pubhshed in 191 5. It presents in a concise 

 and readily intelligible form a comprehensive survey 

 of a subject concerning which few people in this 

 country have more than a very fragmentary know- 

 ledge. After a brief account of the organisation of 

 education of all grades and a historical summary 

 of the college and university systems, the Bulletin 

 gives a description of the parts and working of the 

 typical university and draws a comparison between 

 American and other educational institutions. Next 



NO. 2737, VOL. 109] 



American Colleges and Universities. 



follow particulars of the cost of living and travel, 

 athletics, clubs, etc., and lists of institutions of 

 collegiate or professional grade located in the principal 

 metropolitan centres of higher education, namely. 

 New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Boston, 

 Baltimore, San Francisco, New Orleans, and Washing- 

 ton. Forty-five pages are devoted to a detailed 

 definition of the requirements of the College Entrance 

 Examination Board, an organisation formed by some 

 30 colleges together with the principal associations 

 of colleges and secondary schools, which holds 

 examinations in almost every State and in several 

 foreign countries, including Canada, England, and 

 France. 



